Welcome to the club and the book of Second Kings.

Last episode in Second Kings chapter 5, Elijah continued doing miracles and word of his gift spread all the way to Aram via a young slave girl.

Her master, a commander in the Aramian army named Neiman, visited Elijah and was healed of leprosy. Then Elijah cursed Gahazi with leprosy for trying to extort

payment for the healing from Neiman. And then in chapter six, Elijah retrieved an axe head that was lost in the

Jordan by making it float. He opened the eyes of his servant to see a heavenly host of fire and

horses protecting them from the Aramaan army that had surrounded them. Then he blinded the entire

Aramian army unit and led them into Samaria. All right. To keep our who's who of kings in order, I'm going to try to be really clear about who is actually

who and who they're related to because for the next two episodes it's going to be important.

In the north, Joram is still king in Israel.

Now, remember, he is the son of evil Ahab and Jezebel. He has had every opportunity

to believe in the one true God through the miracles of Elijah and Elisha. The most recent was

Elijah single-handedly leading Joram's enemy, the Arameans, into the capital right in front of him blinded.

Now, despite God's visible presence, Joram is not faithful, and he does evil in the eyes of the Lord.

In the south, Jehoram is still king in Judah. So we got Jorum in the north, Jehoram in the south. He is the son

of good king Jehoshaphat. Now he is a good king too, except for the fact that like his father,

he is an ally of Jorums. I remember Joram is evil. And he marries his son, Ahaziah, to Joram's daughter,

Athalia, which is going to hurt the whole nation of Judah. So we covered the north and the south.

Those are both two countries supposed to be following God. Only Judah really is.

And then in the east, there is Aram.

There's still enemies of Israel, and they're still on the attack as we open this episode.

Scene 1, the siege of Samaria, which is the capital of Israel in the north.

Aram is added again.

...